Help to Buy simply helped to make homes less affordable, says Lords
The government’s £29bn Help to Buy scheme has simply helped to push house prices even higher, according to a House of Lords report.
The verdict from the Lords’ built environment committee is that the money would have been better spent replenishing England’s falling stock of social housing.
“The scheme, which will have cost around £29bn in cash terms by 2023, inflates prices by more than its subsidy value in areas where it is needed the most… This funding would be better spent on increasing housing supply,” the report said.
The government’s £29bn Help to Buy scheme has simply helped to push house prices even higher, according to a House of Lords report.
The verdict from the Lords’ built environment committee is that the money would have been better spent replenishing England’s falling stock of social housing.
“The scheme, which will have cost around £29bn in cash terms by 2023, inflates prices by more than its subsidy value in areas where it is needed the most… This funding would be better spent on increasing housing supply,” the report said.
The stock of social housing has shrunk by close to 500,000 homes since 2000, according to an analysis of official statistics by housing charity Shelter.
“Help to Buy has had its virtues, particularly outside of London. But in London and those hotspots of demand, it has gone straight into price. That has been the problem,” said Baroness Neville-Rolfe, chair of the committee.
Almost 340,000 homes have been bought using the equity loan since Help to Buy was introduced in 2013, the large majority by first-time buyers. In the same period, the share price of leading builders including Persimmon, Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey has nearly tripled.
The FT (£)
